Online service providers have various schemes for categorizing queries submitted by users. Currently, an online service provider will utilize a particular query categorization scheme that is based on potentially a number of factors. Various query schemes can be tested by human beings for accuracy.
For example, suppose an online service provider categorizes a query, “The Dark Knight,” under “movies.” Later, a human being can look at the query and determine whether the query is correctly categorized. Because “The Dark Knight” almost always refers to the popular movie from 2008 entitled “The Dark Knight,” the human being would indicate that the query is correctly categorized. When testing the accuracy of a categorized query, the human being can also investigate other instances in which the query was used. If users frequently navigated to pages relating to “movies,” as determined by the human being, then the query is correctly categorized under “movies.”
In the example, if the online service provider categorized “The Dark Knight” under “medieval times,” then a human being could determine that the query was incorrectly categorized. Although a query using the word “Knight” may sometimes fit under the “medieval times” category, the human being would know that the “medieval times” category does not fit “The Dark Knight.” Online service providers that categorize the query based on the keyword, “knight,” mistake “The Dark Knight” as a term relating to the “medieval times.”
If a user's query is incorrectly categorized, the user receives the wrong content in response to his or her query. In the “medieval times” example above, the user might receive content about knights, paladins, swords, shields, chariots, elves, and dragons even though the true intent of the user is to retrieve information about the movie, “The Dark Knight,” which involves the superhero named Batman and the villain named Joker.
On the other hand, if the query is correctly categorized under “movies,” the user may receive information that complements the user's intent to receive information about “The Dark Knight.” For example, the user may receive information about other Batman movies.
Online service providers spend too much time and money to have humans manually check queries such as “The Dark Knight” to determine whether the queries are correctly categorized. A more efficient approach would not require human beings to analyze categorized queries to determine whether queries have been correctly categorized. Also, an improved query categorization method that is less error-prone than current techniques would reduce the need for manual corrections.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.